New Orleans Airport

The article concerning baggage theft sure brings back memories of a foiled attempt. I had just purchased a new piece of Samsonite, my name tag was placed so the address, etc., was turned toward the bag. I also had two small strips of green tape on each end of the bag. My bag was coming down the conveyor when a female hand grabbed the bag. I hurried in her direction, and found she had placed a jacket over the bag. I asked her politely if she had a...

HOW YOU CAN HELP There are many ways to help ease suffering along the Gulf Coast. Inside is a rundown of groups providing aid to survivors. 5B or go to sun-sentinel.com. Good news, grim news Floodwaters began to recede in part of New Orelans as one levee breach was filled, but there also was more bad news: The city's death count could hit 10,000. 16A Should we stay or move on? In Mississippi, some resilient residents plan to rebuild their homes. Others, however, hope to restart their lives elsewhere as soon as they are able to do so. 18A Schools prep for influx Tens of thousands of displaced school-age children will join school districts in Texas and other states, often hundreds of miles from their storm-ravaged homes.

KENNER, La. -- Thirteen people, including a Palm Beach man, were injured when a twin-engine commuter plane carrying nine passengers and two pilots crashed shortly after takeoff from New Orleans` airport on Tuesday and plowed through six lanes of rush-hour traffic, authorities said. No one was killed in the crash, which injured the 11 people aboard the plane and two people on the ground. Donald Reives, 42, of Palm Beach, was admitted to St. Jude hospital with spinal injuries. He was reported in serious condition.

Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, which some pilots wryly call the George Bush Intergalactic Airport (in reference to the grandiloquence of its title), is not a bad place to contemplate the summer of 2004, as domestic air travel finally returns to pre-Sept. 11 levels. I was waiting for a connecting flight on a recent Saturday morning when the surreal nature of air travel as it is currently constituted locked in. Bush Intercontinental, like other major airports, is visibly growing more crowded as summer approaches.

HOW YOU CAN HELP There are many ways to help ease suffering along the Gulf Coast. Inside is a rundown of groups providing aid to survivors. 5B or go to sun-sentinel.com. Good news, grim news Floodwaters began to recede in part of New Orelans as one levee breach was filled, but there also was more bad news: The city's death count could hit 10,000. 16A Should we stay or move on? In Mississippi, some resilient residents plan to rebuild their homes. Others, however, hope to restart their lives elsewhere as soon as they are able to do so. 18A Schools prep for influx Tens of thousands of displaced school-age children will join school districts in Texas and other states, often hundreds of miles from their storm-ravaged homes.

Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, which some pilots wryly call the George Bush Intergalactic Airport (in reference to the grandiloquence of its title), is not a bad place to contemplate the summer of 2004, as domestic air travel finally returns to pre-Sept. 11 levels. I was waiting for a connecting flight on a recent Saturday morning when the surreal nature of air travel as it is currently constituted locked in. Bush Intercontinental, like other major airports, is visibly growing more crowded as summer approaches.

Miami-Dade County officials are scrambling to get out of a 1995 deal in which they agreed to pay $8,219 for sanitary toilet seats at Miami International Airport. The no-bid contract was approved with no public debate two years ago and has no termination provisions. Only after a county audit was released last week did county officials begin examining if they could get out of the three-year deal. The audit found that Miami International is paying "considerably more" than five other airports that have used the high-tech seats.

They are the Rolls Royces of public toilet seats. A tight plastic sheath is electrically changed for each user at the touch of a button, ending toilet users' worries of dirty seats. The high-tech device has won legions of fans, including some of those who have used the new seats at Miami International Airport. But those 625 airport seats come with a Rolls Royce price tag: $8,219 each through three years, including plastic sleeves and maintenance. Officials for West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale airports briefly have considered different deals for the seats and decided that they are too expensive.

Hurricane Rita threw a wrinkle in air travel Friday, with hundreds of flights canceled in and out of the Gulf states, but airlines with hubs in Houston hope to be back in the air as early as this evening. Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports in Houston shut down at noon Friday in preparation for the storm to make landfall somewhere along Texas' eastern border. AirTran Airways officials said they aim to get back in the air over Houston by 5 p.m. today, depending on the effects of the storm.

When the first Pride Air flight leaves Palm Beach International Airport the morning of Aug. 1, it will culminate a four-year drive by hundreds of former Continental Airlines pilots to organize their own airline after losing a bitter takeover battle in 1981. The acquisition, by Texas Air Corp., was the opening shot in a war between Continental employees and Texas Air Chairman Frank Lorenzo, who took the company into bankruptcy proceedings in 1983, voiding labor agreements in the process.

Miami-Dade County officials are scrambling to get out of a 1995 deal in which they agreed to pay $8,219 for sanitary toilet seats at Miami International Airport. The no-bid contract was approved with no public debate two years ago and has no termination provisions. Only after a county audit was released last week did county officials begin examining if they could get out of the three-year deal. The audit found that Miami International is paying "considerably more" than five other airports that have used the high-tech seats.

They are the Rolls Royces of public toilet seats. A tight plastic sheath is electrically changed for each user at the touch of a button, ending toilet users' worries of dirty seats. The high-tech device has won legions of fans, including some of those who have used the new seats at Miami International Airport. But those 625 airport seats come with a Rolls Royce price tag: $8,219 each through three years, including plastic sleeves and maintenance. Officials for West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale airports briefly have considered different deals for the seats and decided that they are too expensive.

The article concerning baggage theft sure brings back memories of a foiled attempt. I had just purchased a new piece of Samsonite, my name tag was placed so the address, etc., was turned toward the bag. I also had two small strips of green tape on each end of the bag. My bag was coming down the conveyor when a female hand grabbed the bag. I hurried in her direction, and found she had placed a jacket over the bag. I asked her politely if she had a...

KENNER, La. -- Thirteen people, including a Palm Beach man, were injured when a twin-engine commuter plane carrying nine passengers and two pilots crashed shortly after takeoff from New Orleans` airport on Tuesday and plowed through six lanes of rush-hour traffic, authorities said. No one was killed in the crash, which injured the 11 people aboard the plane and two people on the ground. Donald Reives, 42, of Palm Beach, was admitted to St. Jude hospital with spinal injuries. He was reported in serious condition.